Sightseeing at Home

We see archetypal depictions
of women — solidified in leisure.

Such painted women presented
advertisements for husbands,

for their abilities to afford both
house servants — and idle wives.

Lilla Cabot Perry shows these
contemporaneous conventions

in her Lady with a Book – or,
is it Lady with a Bowl of Violets?

We see women as sightseers
within their own homes, while

their men explore outside.
If a man had portrayed a man,

the book’s title would be visible —
or, even better, the man would be

seen writing the book himself.
As it was then — at that time —

Perry’s women sat – or stood —
in their finely-appointed places.

They sat quite still – their gazes
turned a bit inward perhaps —

dreaming of far-off futures —
where women and housewives

could afford to find ways to be
— and become – themselves —

independent of men and of husbands —
— freed from such lackluster limitations.

. . . . .

Poet: Susan Powers Bourne
Source: The Feminine Gaze
Process: Pick and mix